Problematic
by Starlit Muse
Summary: Roxas and Sora have been sharing a mind and body for two years. When a dangerous threat arises, two friends set out to find a cure. But the consequences might not be worth it. -This story is on a temporary planning hiatus. In line after CYE.


**A/N**: One of MANY random KH ideas that have recently raped my brain cells. And it's actually in the right Universe too OwO! Le gasps~!! Oh well. This story takes place 2 years after KH2 (ish), Kairi /Naminé and Sora/ Roxas are 17, and Riku is 18. I apologize for OOCness, though hopefully it won't be too bad. Blame KH 358/2 days for my sudden inspiration. I'm on day 301 baby. 57 to go!!  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own these characters in even the slightest sense of the word. I also do not claim responsibility for any brain damage you may incur while reading this.

**Problematic  
**_I. Sora_

_It's been so long._

Standing on a ledge overlooking the shore, he felt so completely alone. His eyes reflected the solid ocean and the falling sun as they drew closer, threatening to collide at the horizon at any moment.

_Why do things always have to change?_

His arms moved of their own volition, wrapping loosely around his shoulders. As alone as each of them felt, they never truly were. They had each other. They always had each other. A sad smile touched upon his lips as he felt the familiar sting of tears scratching at the corners of his vision and the back of his throat.

_But, where did you go?_

His breath caught in his throat as the sun melted into the water, setting the royal waves aflame in liquid gold. Slowly in the dark night he found himself suddenly plunged into, he watched as a black shadow pealed itself from between the lightless sky and the sea of flames, moving to shore.

_I need you now more than ever…_

The figure stopped an arms length away, silhouetted by the flames against its back. Immediately he knew who it was. A gloved hand reached up from the left and swept uselessly through half a head of vaguely red spikes before landing securely on a bony hip; from the right lifted a pale hand, briefly swatting feathery silver layers over a shoulder before reaching out for him.

_ And as hard as I try, I can't seem to find you._

"Riku!" he hollered, reaching out as well until he heard the choked sob from somewhere in the back of his mind.

_Axel!_

Though he couldn't see the figure's face, he knew it frowned. A gloved hand dropped from a bony hip and a spiky head drooped. The flames roared against the darkness as he faded into the sky, leaving Riku alone in his wake.

Somewhere inside him, something broke. Tears came unbidden to his eyes. Riku turned and retreated back to the shore and the darkness swallowed the light of the flames.

The brunette stirred from within his mountain of sheets, sitting up groggily from his warmth. His heart was pumping hard and his breaths came ragged. He heard a soft voice call from outside and thoroughly ignored it. Reaching up to wipe the sweat from his brow, he found his cheeks wet and cold.

He drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly, shaking slightly from the strain. "Roxas," he breathed. His eyes fell to his toes as they burrowed into the folds of the sheets. He sucked on his lip for a second before he felt his Nobody clearly. "I'm sorry," he said haltingly, his voice cracking as he spoke the apology. "I… want to help you find him." It wasn't the first time he'd spoken those words and it wouldn't be the last.

'_It's your life. Live it for yourself, Sora. No good would come out of finding Axel._'

"But you would be happy…" he trailed off, wiping away the drying tears.

Despite the words, Sora felt a surge of loneliness cross their bond and heard a humorless laugh pass his own lips.

'_It figures- all that time of trying to feel and now that I can, all I find is pain._'

They sat like that through a minute of silence before Kairi's voice filtered in from the window, uncharacteristically bitter, "Dang it! Did Riku take you with him?" It took a brief second for fear to grip him, the dream still fresh in his mind. "I'll be so angry if you two decided to leave me behind again!"

"What," Sora half-shouted as he ran to his window and peered down to the girl.

She grinned wide. "There you are! Good morning."

He ignored the formalities, shielding his eyes from the morning sun. "Where's Riku?"

She pulled on a pout and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me. He isn't at his place. You okay, Sora?" she asked, frowning up at the boy now.

"Yeah… I just- had a weird dream. I'll be down in a second. We have to go look for him!" he returned to his room and proceeded to get dressed.

"Yes, yes. Of course we do, mama hen. Tell me when you get down here, Naminé is curious," the girl cooed.

Sora perked up a little at this. In the two years it had been since he'd taken on the organization they'd refrained from talking too much of their Nobodies. It was a secret between the two of them.

After a cursory glance in the mirror, he bolted out the door to find just another beautiful, sunny day. They headed out to find their missing friend, Sora retelling as he walked. As the story passed his lips he felt Roxas again stirring within him, though he felt nothing through their link. Sora frowned as he spoke; that meant the blonde was brooding again.

"And then Riku vanished too…" he finished as they approached the secret place, arms propped up behind his head.

Kairi stayed silent through the conclusion, presumably thinking things over with Naminé. "How did Roxas handle that?" She asked in a voice that wasn't hers.

Sora didn't need the link to understand Roxas' feelings on the matter. "It hurt him a lot," he replied simply, eyes downcast to the sand at their feet as they slipped into their secret place.

"Well, it was just a dream, right?" Kairi tried, but it was clear that that wasn't the point.

"Of course it was," Sora replied, looking frantically around for his oldest friend. "Just a dream…" The guilty look on Riku's face from the dream briefly floated in his mind's eye.

They searched the island over, leaving no stone unturned and no door unopened. Everybody on the island knew who they were looking for, but nobody had seen him.

Finally it was getting dark. Kairi looked up from where she stood before jumping down from a particularly high ledge and landing gracefully on her feet. "Ah! I didn't realize how late it was getting. I've got to get home and help with dinner," she hesitated, looking back up at him, "Don't worry, Sora. It's Riku. He always turns up sooner or later!" and with that and a wave, she was gone.

Sora watched her go with a sigh. Suddenly it was left on his shoulders to find Riku again, as it usually wound up in the end. There was one place left he could think of; if he couldn't find Riku there, he was being avoided. Either that or something was wrong. He wasn't sure which he preferred.

The brunette headed for the trees, now a little apprehensive. Maybe his best friend just wanted to be alone. He passed into the light tree coverage their tiny island had to offer and looked all around him. Not even a leaf twitched in the still evening.

He noted the color the sun left the leaves and whirled around to face it. The sun sunk in the sky, dipping into the placid waves and casting an orange glow the distance between them.

The boy dropped to the leaf-strewn ground, disheartened. "Riku," Sora whined, propping himself up on his gloved palms. He looked away as Roxas stirred again, remembering how sunsets affected him.

'_This place… You came here the week we got back. I meant to ask then: What's so special about it?_'

He smiled faintly at the mention. "This is where Riku and I had our first and only fight," he explained.

'_You fought?_'

A small laugh bubbled out of him. "Yeah, I don't even remember what it was about anymore. We broke up our friendship over it and I wound up begging him to forgive me. I was about eleven I think.

'_So you two have been together for a long time…_'

"We've been together as long as I can remember." The blurry image of Axel swam through his thoughts and he nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is kinda like you and Axel. He befriended you as soon as you joined, didn't he?" Sora asked tentatively.

'_He did, just as soon as I would let him._' He felt a smile tug at his lips. '_So then, how long have you had this crush on Riku?_''

Before he could respond, a deeper voice cut through the trees toward him, "Stop talking to yourself, idiot."

Sora leaned back to hold Riku in his view, standing behind him with his arms crossed over his chest. His face was serious, but he looked like his lips were fighting off a grin of his own at the look of delight on the younger's face.

"Riku! There you are!" Relief washed over him, leaving him warm though night had already fallen. "Where have you been all this time? Kairi and I were looking for you all day!" He frowned as his friend dropped to the floor beside him.

The silver-headed teen simply pointed in the general direction of a tree behind them. "Over there, waiting."

Sora looked up to the tree for a moment, his frown remaining. "So you were avoiding us," he pointed out, folding into himself as the fast-approaching-fall air settled in around him.

Riku shrugged beside him. "Waiting," he corrected. A few moments of contented silence passed between them before Riku started again awkwardly, "Things have been different since I got back, haven't they?"

Sora tilted his head cutely to the side to get a good look at him. He thought of how often Riku went off by himself and he felt suddenly that there was a rift growing between them. It seemed the older boy was trying to keep distance between them all the time now. "I guess so…" he said sadly.

Had it always gotten this cold so early in the year? He huddled in closer to the warmth at his side.

"I don't like it," Riku began, eyes averted, "I know you and Kairi are closer now, and I can respect that, but why are you keeping secrets from me?"

"Huh? Riku, what are you talking about?" Sora asked, honestly confused as to why he mentioned Kairi and secrets together. Unless… "Oh…" He shifted uneasily. He knew about Roxas and Naminé… "I'm sorry, Riku. I would've told you sooner or later, I just… didn't want you to think I was losing it or something. That and it doesn't really come up too often in conversation."

Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Roxas snigger, '_You two aren't even in the same _book_, let alone on the same _page_,_' to which Sora blinked in confusion.

"Losing it? No. I can kinda see where you're coming from, you've known her for a long time and you've been through a lot together… You're seventeen now, I guess it was bound to happen." Riku commented, falling onto his back and staring up into the patch of sky visible through the thin outcropping of leaves.

Sora stared straight ahead, imploring the tree to his left to explain both his Nobody and his friend. He twisted around suddenly to see the silverette. "What?"

His best friend rubbed his hand over his eyes, grimacing. "I'm happy for you, really. I just wish you would've told me about it. I don't want there to be secrets between us, Sora."

Sora sat beside him, arms crossed over his chest as he tried to get straight what was being said. "You're happy for me sharing a body with Roxas?" he asked at last, slowly. "And for Naminé sharing a body with Kairi?" He was confused and Roxas' unheard laughter wasn't helping in the slightest. Did Riku want a Nobody too?

Said boy dropped his hands from his face and blinked up at him. Apparently he wasn't alone in the feeling. "Roxas is in your body with you? And Naminé-- What? I was talking about you and Kairi hooking up," he sat up to gain eye level.

Sora was taken aback. "Me and Kairi—No! She's like my sister. That's gross!" he said childishly, pulling a face though he smiled as he caught on to what the issue was.

Riku's expression softened at this. "Oh. Well, I've been trying to give you two space, but I guess--"

"Please stop," Sora interrupted. Riku hesitated, watching him for a moment before a smile touched his lips. "I miss hanging out with you! I had to go so long without my best friend, then we finally got you back and you were always off alone--" Riku cut him off by holding up a hand.

"Okay- That's settled. Now what's this about Roxas and Naminé?" he questioned, frowning a bit as Sora grinned sheepishly up at him.

"Oh yeah! Well, when Roxas became a part of me again… He kept his own consciousness. He still thinks and feels- And every once in a while he can take control," Sora paused as Roxas corrected this. "Apparently he can take over when I'm tired or asleep."

Riku thought for a second and made a face. "Wait… so can you both feel everything? Like this," he illustrated his point by ghosting his warm hand up the length of Sora's forearm. An involuntary shudder followed this movement.

'_I felt that._'

"You're warm," Sora stated, inched closer discretely, "He can feel it too, so yes. That's pretty coo- OW!" Riku pinched his elbow, causing the younger boy to jerk away. He heard Roxas curse the older from within him. "That too, jerk!" Sora whined, rubbing the abused flesh.

The look on Riku's face grew contemplative. "So how does that work when you… Y'know. Do you both feel it? At the same time?"

For the second time since Kairi had gone home, Sora was completely and totally lost.

"Uh… Roxas says I've never done that, but he wants to test it—" He cut himself off as Roxas remembered one of the few things Nobodies could feel- physical pleasure. Sora flushed deeply at the mental image floating before his mind's eye. "Oh, that. He's right, I haven't- and I _don't_ want to try anytime soon, Roxas!" he blushed at the prospect of something so personal in a shared body.

Riku stared at the seventeen-year-old. "You've never done that? Wow. And here I was thinking everybody had. Not even once?" he pressed, eliciting an embarrassed noise from the younger as he continued with the topic.

"Nope," Sora responded and they fell into a semi-awkward (on Sora's part) silence.

Riku began to stand. "Well, it's getting late. You should probably head home, Sora." He suggested, stretching.

Said brunette was standing in a heartbeat. "But—I just got you back…" he whined, not wanted to chance Riku relapsing into loner-hood. "You should spend the night!" Riku grinned.

"Sounds good to me."

This time Sora slept soundly, no confusing dreams or cryptic nightmarish messages. And when he awoke he smiled, seeing Riku. A few moments after this initial reaction he blushed, the other boy's face mere inches from his own on the floor.


End file.
